Welcome to the blog tour for Gilded Wings: The Angel Chronicles, Book 2 by Amy Lignor! Read about Amy's routine and then check out an exclusive excerpt from her book. You can follow the tour to read even more excerpts!
My Writing
Routine
I get asked this question
by bloggers, readers and more, who want to know what ‘routine’ I
go by in order to create a novel. Well, my writing routine is its own
kind of unique; all I need is an industrial fan and my dog. I know
that sounds a little silly, but there are
actual reasons for them both.
Getting the time
to write is actually the hardest part of putting together a routine.
Some days it feels like I need the whip of Indiana
Jones in order to fight so I can sit in front
of a computer for more than two minutes. But when I do
succeed, I immediately turn on the huge fan
that sits in the corner of the office. I lived in a big city for a
long time and I’m used to noise. Unfortunately, I only
need that noise. If anyone’s speaking -
people, the cat, the television, the radio - I can’t write a word.
I’m one of the few who actually need to be trapped inside my crazy
mind in order to hear all the characters shouting out to me.
Needing the dog would seem
to go against the whole ‘quiet’ rule. My dog, however, is a huge,
gentle beast who spends most of his time lying beside me unless some
type of food has just appeared from the oven. He’s the best editor
in the world. I can bounce ideas off him and he looks really
interested. His eyes get wide, his ears stand up straight (well…one
does) and he cocks his head to the side. Either he really likes the
path I’m taking with my characters, or he simply believes that
every word in the English language means ‘treat.’
With the exception of the
UPS man stopping by with boxes of books to review, the dog and I have
a perfect relationship. However, when that brown truck with the
horrific brakes that sound like a dolphin being squeezed in the jaws
of, well…Jaws, my
dog has a tendency to let out a high-pitched bark. If I’m typing
when that occurs, whatever I haven’t saved ends up deleted when I
fall forward from shock and land on the keyboard.
So…Fan on, check. Hair
blowing like I’m caught in a jet engine, check. Reuben, the canine
grizzly who is fed, watered, and sleeping soundly just waiting for
that one harsh squeak that will allow him to kill me, check.
Then, and only then, can
the writing begin.
Until Next Time,
Everybody.
Amy
Gregori grew bored with the conversation and began to babble endlessly about the western half of America. He rambled on about Billy—that kid—and Wyatt Earp, the lawman that Gregori wanted to meet with all his heart.
Mitchell’s smile grew wide as he told Gregori about the time he met a man by the name of Robert Ingersoll during one of his journeys to the West.
“I was building a railroad and we were headed to a small town by the name of Roswell, New Mexico. It’s far away from here, but a busy little town to say the least. On the train, Governor Lew Wallace sat next to me. You won’t know of him, seeing as that you just arrived, but he was the Governor of New Mexico at the time, Gregori. It was back...mercy...almost fifteen years ago now, when Max was just a little boy. You hadn’t even arrived yet, Myles.”
The boy giggled when his father tickled his side. “Tell us more! Was Billy the Kid there?”
Mitchell’s face changed, as if he was going back in time to sit on that train once more. “No. Actually, Ingersoll talked about religion the whole trip. He didn’t believe that a world full of sadness and despair could’ve been created by an entity who supposedly loved us all so much. He didn’t believe in eternal punishments; said there was no sin a man could commit that would be bad enough to make him live in eternal peril.”
Drew stared at him in fascination. “Did you correct him?”
“No. After all,” Mitchell said, turning to Anya with a smile. “Freedom is what this country was founded on. No one should be persecuted for what they believe in, or don’t believe in.”
Anya shook her head in wonder. “I am from a place, as Drew is, that understands there’s only one thing to believe. We do not have the freedom to speak of any other belief than the one that’s been with us for centuries. These beliefs are a part of us. They are worth fighting and dying for in our countries.”
Drew nodded from across the table as Mitchell sat back in his chair.
Anya searched for the right words so as not to offend the generous man at the head of the table. “But I agree with you that no one should be told what to believe, Mr. Carrow.”
“Mitchell,” he said, offering a warm smile.
“Sir,” she nodded. “But if you’re not willing to stand up for what you believe in, then what does America have?”
“I don’t understand,” Mitchell said, leaning his elbows on the table.
“Well, people can be allowed to search for something, but if they never find anything to believe in, I think that would be much worse. Some people do need guidance in these areas or they will grow up without hope and faith. Can you imagine what a generation like that would do?” Anya felt a shock go through her system, as if the strange light bulb above her head had sent electricity through her veins. “I believe that’s when men would start to think they were God, instead of listening to the One who truly is.”
“Well said,” Drew replied softly; he suddenly looked as if he was desperate to jump across the linen tablecloth, fall to his knees and ask Anya to believe in him for the rest of her life.
Mitchell sat back and smiled. “Yes, well said. But it’s a gray area, which,” he continued, turning back to the confused face of Gregori, “is the point of my story. Lew Wallace, the Governor of New Mexico, took this man’s words to heart and eventually wrote a book called Ben Hur. Some people hated it—some loved it, but the best thing that came out of it was that everyone was once again talking about the subject of faith. That, to me, is an amazing feat. Think about it. Pages of well-thought out words can bring together a whole country. They move the focus away from politics, business and money, to talk about a subject that we sometimes forget is there—where we came from and who’s watching over us.”
Anya was a little surprised at the serious tone of the conversation.
Until Next Time: The Angel Chronicles, Book 1 Summary
Amy Lignor began her career at Grey House Publishing in northwest Connecticut where she was the Editor-in-Chief of numerous educational and business directories.
Now she is a published author of several works of fiction. The Billy the Kid historical The Heart of a Legend; the thriller, Mind Made; and the adventure novel, Tallent & Lowery 13.
She is also the owner of The Write Companion, a company that offers help and support to writers through a full range of editorial services from proofreading and copyediting to ghostwriting and research. As the daughter of a research librarian, she is also an active book reviewer.
Currently, she lives with her daughter, mother and a rambunctious German Shepherd named Reuben, in the beautiful state of New Mexico.
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